Third Man Records revive direct-to-acetate recording process for live release series

Share

0000

Share

0000

The Shins, the Kills and Seasick Steve see concerts cut straight to vinyl for unique 12″ releases.

The arch-analogue revivalist, Jack White’s latest venture is perhaps his label’s most impressive yet. Resurrecting the one-of-a-kind direct-to-acetate recording process at their Blue Room venue, Third Man have cut three unique live performances to vinyl in situ. Mixed in real time on a Rupert Neve 5008 console, the unedited masters were cut on the 1953 Scully Lathe used at Cincinnati’s King Records that produced James Brown’s “This Is A Man’s World” among other iconic sides.

This is what it means to live in a Third Man’s world: “We believe that this new/old method of recording is as honest as it gets, bringing listeners as close to the experience of the performance as possible (of course, that is until our team of talented engineers and tinkerers manage to gather all the necessary parts to get our time machine and teletransporter back up and running.)”

Under the eye of Grammy Award winning engineer Vance Powell and eagle-eyed cutter George Ingram whose work behind the scenes was projected live into the venue from which the gig was being recorded, Third Man’s direct-to-acetate live set-up is currently the only one of it’s kind in the world.

With more releases planned, The Shins, The Kills and Seasick Steve Live at Third Man 12” records will be available from 25th June. Of course, this is not the first time Third Man have turned the clock back for recording inspiration, with their unique 1947 Voice-o-Graph Recording Booth a highlight of this year’s Record Store Day. Even bootleg vigilante Neil Young had a go.

Watch the Seasick Steve master being cut below and visit their website for more details.